The Big Vent
by 19Gleek94
Summary: Ryder meets his catfish. Alternate Universe.


Marley had been waiting for the deeply hurt Ryder for several minutes when he finally came out of the classroom outside which she had been waiting.

"Hey." She stood in his way. "Can we talk?"

The boy shrugged her off. "Why don't you just text me?" He headed for another direction, through an empty classroom. The brown-haired girl didn't give up and ran after him.

"I know it was wrong, and I know you're hurt." she tried to make clear before pandering to his conscience. "But you're taking it out on everyone, and that's not fair. We need you for regionals."

"You don't need _me_, alright?" the tall boy gave back. "Jake's a better dancer, Artie's a bigger singer, and Sam's better looking."

"Now you're just feeling sorry for yourself." Ryder shook his head, without even looking at her. "We're not competing with each other, we're a team."

Ryder, who had become seriously annoyed by her last words, came to a halt abruptly. "Why?" he asked.

Marley was confused for an instant. "'Why' what?"

The brown-haired teen glared at her. "I need to know why. You say we're a team, but you've been lying to me, messing with my head, and I'll need some kind of explanation if I'm going to go to regionals..."

Their conversation was interrupted quite suddenly. "Because... I know I have the wrong gender for you." That was said by a really deep voice that came from a hallway behind Marley. Ryder recognized the voice almost immediately.

A boy with coffee-brown skin and short, wavy hair appeared out of said hallway.

"Jake?!" Ryder asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." He confessed. "I'm Katie. Or catfish, if you'd rather." He put his arm around Marley. "Marley, I love you, but you don't have to cover for me anymore."

Marley nodded, to see that she understood, and then walked off.

Ryder wasn't right able to get his head around it. "So I really was right at first? You were still wary for when I kissed Marley, and then tried to get me out of the way..."

"Ryder..." The half-black teen tried to make his friend calm down, but to no avail."

"I know I might have crossed a line" the brunette continued in his aggressive tone. "But did you really have to make me feel that pathetic?"

"Ryder..." Jake tried to get his friends attention once more, but he was unsuccesful again.

"... I really tried to supress what I felt for her, because we became friendly then, you didn't have to pay me back by betraying..."

"RYDER!" Jake raised his voice this time, and got the taller boy to pipe down. "Please let me explain."

Ryder raised his head, and stared at Jake observantly. "I'm hearing?" He was still eager to know as to why he had been defrauded after all.

"The truth is... it wasn't about Marley at all." Jake seemed to be very uncomfortable. "It was about you alone."

Ryder didn't understand. "What do you mean, 'not about her, about me'? I thought you did all that to stop me from interfering with your relationship?"

"That's exactly what wasn't my intention." He spawned out. "I..." he chocked. It was clear that it was something very hard for him to admit, but when he realized that Ryder was looking more and more impatient, he exclaimed: "Ryder, I love you."

The other teen would have expected anything, but that. "What?!" He uttered a fake laugh. "That can't be. You're not gay, you're with Marley, and all. Stop..."

"Marley is just what you'd call a beard to me. She has been my best friend ever since we both transferred to McKinley. I talk to her about everything, so when I told her..." The half-black guy choked once more. "She agreed to help me cover up the fact that I am in fact very gay."

Ryder was seriously appalled by that confession. Ever since they first met he had believed Jake to be an always horny guy who hits on every skirt in sight, and now he was telling him he wasn't even interested in girls? Repeating the words in his head made it sound like a clear excuse.

"Do you think I'm stupid, dude? Are you seriously such an asshole that you need to feed me with lies even now?"

"It's the truth." the other boy assured. "Let me start from the beginning."

Ryder looked at him while maintaining silence, showing that he was listening.

"I seriously couldn't stand you at first. You stealing away the lead in Grease and hitting on my best friend really made me wish you'd just disappear. Plus, I also hated you, because, despite it all, I found you really attractive."

Jake could see Ryder raise an eyebrow when he said that. He hesitated for an instant, to see if his friend wanted to interject, but when Ryder remained silent, he continued his story.

"Well, during dynamic duets week, when Finn forced us to talk about our greatest fear...I saw this new side of you that I really liked. And, I started feeling even more for you. Truth be told, my kryptonite back then really was that I feel about guys the way other guys feet about girls. I had hoped that by hitting on every girl here at school those feelings would go away... But after that day I knew it was pointless. Through you I realized that I needed a guy to achieve happiness."

As Jake had spoken, Ryder's expression had become less angry, but more horror-stricken instead. Jake knew that he still had some explaining to do.

"Over the following months I tried to overcome what I felt for you, but the more time we spent together, and the better friends we became, the stronger my affection for you grew. There came a point where I couldn't bear only being your friend anymore, but I was very aware that you could never like me the way I like you because... I'm a guy. That's why I took the pictures of that girl and created this female identity to make me like you back."

Ryder was looking seriously sad now. He still wanted to believe that his friend was telling some lie to pull himself out of the affair, but something in his tone told him he was telling the truth.

Jake was gaining hope that his friend would forgive him, so he went ahead and added some words of comfort.

"Ryder, I'm so sorry I played you for a sucker, I really didn't mean to hurt you. I was very serious with you the rest of the time. All the devotion I expressed towards you... that was all me, and it was all real. And, I'd get it if you never want to talk to me again... But I'd seriously settle for simply being your friend if you forgive me."

By now Ryder was bending his head down, covering his face along the process. To Jake it sounded as if he was crying. He attempted to console his friend, so he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ryder..." he attempted to say in a soft voice, but the next thing he knew was that a strong hand was grabbing his arm and that then a similarly strong arm was pressing him against the lockers. The second Jake hit the lockers, he could hear a bunch of girls screeching, obviously frightened by the bang it had caused, and by the act of violence that was being committed right in front of them.

Jake now had a close view of Ryder's face, which was only a couple of inches away from his own. It was inflamed with rage, while also being covered in tears. Their heads were so close that Jake could literally feel how the taller guy was bristling with anger.

_"Please beat me."_ Jake thought to himself. _"I deserve it for what I have done to you."_ He closed his eyes, ready to take whatever Ryder was wanting to do to him.

"Guys, stop it. Ryder put him down." Jake opened his eyes to see that their former glee-club director, Finn Hudson, had come to his aid.

He could hear one last sob from Ryder, before the brunette put him down and walked off.

"Are you alright?" Finn wanted to know from Jake.

The teen didn't know what to say. He felt as if he really deserved to be beaten up. "I'm alright, Finn. And no offence, but... I'd really prefer to be left alone right now."

Finn was a little outraged by Jake's reaction. He would have expected a bit more gratefulness from his best friend's brother. But at the same time it was clear to him that Jake was a mess right now, so he decided to just accept it.

"Okay. But if he comes and threatens you again, don't be afraid to ask me for help."

Finn then also walked off, and as he was leaving, Jake dropped to the ground and started crying.


End file.
